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The Brian Lehrer Show

Meet the New Commissioner of Consumer and Worker Protection

The Brian Lehrer Show

WNYC

Politics, News, News Commentary, Wnyc, Radio, Npr, Arts, New, Lerer, Media, Bryan, Nyc, Daily News, York, Public

4.61.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sam Levine, commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) talks about his priorities in his new role.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Brian We're on WNYC, and we'll be introducing you here to commissioners and other leaders of the new

0:16.0

Mamdani administration. We have the school's chancellor scheduled for a few weeks from now.

0:22.0

Today we've got Sam Levine, the new commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, previously

0:27.1

known before the DeBlasio administration as the Department of Consumer Affairs. DeBlasio brought

0:33.3

workers under the same tent as consumers for this important department.

0:38.3

Eric Adams kept it that way, and now so is Mayor Mamdani.

0:41.8

This is our first interview with a member of the administration since the inauguration,

0:46.3

and he's already done a lot in just these few weeks by way of introduction.

0:50.0

On the consumer side, the commissioner has been tasked with enforcing the executive order banning junk fees and subscription traps.

0:58.9

We'll talk about that.

1:00.1

His office will also play a role in the upcoming rental rip-off hearings that the mayor announced.

1:05.5

We'll definitely hear more about that.

1:07.8

And I can already hear many tenants thinking what they might report, right?

1:11.3

We did one call in on that already. As for the worker protection side, last week, the DCWP

1:17.8

sued the restaurant-facing delivery app, Motoclick, and its CEO, for allegedly violating the city's

1:26.5

delivery worker laws and sent out a compliance blitz,

1:30.4

they called it, to other delivery companies warning them to adhere to delivery worker laws

1:36.7

that will come into effect next week.

1:38.9

Commissioner Levine also issued a report finding that Uber Eats and DoorDash, quote,

1:47.3

engineered design tricks in their interfaces, unquote, to make it harder for consumers to tip workers, resulting in what the

1:54.5

commissioner says is a combined $550 million pay cut, allegedly. But first, we'll ask the commissioner about his priorities and his

2:02.5

resume. Did you know he served as the director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of

...

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